


you're not gonna like it

by PenelopeJadewing



Series: fictober 2018 [10]
Category: Naruto, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Fictober 2018, Gen, Internal Conflict, Internal Monologue, Light Angst, Shisui wants to do the right thing, nobody likes him anyway, screw Danzo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-19
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2019-08-04 07:34:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16342508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PenelopeJadewing/pseuds/PenelopeJadewing
Summary: Shisui has an important mission to deliver to none other than his young cousin, Itachi. A mission handed down from Shimura Danzo, the head of the National Hero Commission, himself. It's a heavy burden, weighty with the matter of life and death. But the real question is... can Shisui bring himself to deliver the assignment, knowing what it will mean for his little cousin and his family?





	you're not gonna like it

Uchiha Shisui feels old age clawing at the bones in his ankles. Like the long, tapered claws haven’t yet managed to reach any higher… his belly, his lungs, his throat are safe. But his ankles are weighty, and he’s not even walking. He lounges back against his cousin’s bed, back against its side and head lolled back over the top so he care bore his listlessness into the ceiling overhead, where the wide-bladed fan spins on its lowest setting.

Spinning, spinning, round and round… kinda like life.

It’s a good thing he’s not voicing these thoughts out loud. He’s only sixteen and he feels like he’s going on sixty. Like his soul’s been around the sun at least three times before this. Like he could just close his eyes now and sleep for a thousand years.

He and Itachi both, it seems. The kid sits beside him, head bowed instead of raised, eyes closed after hours of analyzing his books—textbooks. Normal kid stuff. Well, as normal as Itachi can be, as a prodigy who skipped his last year of middle school and went straight to U.A. on recommendations. But now he’s just trying to keep his grades up, like the good student he wants to be. Blissfully unaware… for the most part.

D*** Shimura Danzo. D*** the whole Commission. Shisui signed up for this back when he decided to intern with the head of the National Hero Commission, but Itachi?

Itachi just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He knows just enough to be useful, and not enough to pose a threat.

Shisui hates that he was the one delegated to deliver this briefing.

But caution is caution. When they’re dealing with the things they are, Shimura can’t afford any risks or mistakes. This, supposedly, is the safest way to deliver the mission. The one way Uncle Fugaku wouldn’t expect…

“You have something to say,” speaks the young voice beside him, crystal clear and unhesitating. Certain.

Shisui sighs.  _Too intuitive for his own good…_  If he wanted to, Shisui could just… not say anything. He could leave it unspoken, convince his cousin he had nothing to say. Or that what he had to say was frivolous, casual, unimportant. Itachi would believe him too; Shisui can never miss the unwavering trust in those eyes every time they pin him down. Just like they do now. Itachi raises his head and rests his coal-black eyes on him with a steadiness better fitting an ancient stone idol rather than a little kid.

Deciding to take his chances, he shrugs a shoulder, meeting Itachi’s gaze for two seconds before looking back at the ceiling fan. “Nah. It’s nothing.”

He feels Itachi’s frown more than he sees it. It’s petulant in a way Shisui knows his cousin never lets his family see—no, to them, he remains the ever-respectful and obedient son and the kind, nurturing big brother.

Shisui used to wish he could come close to that kind of dedication. But right now, he just wishes Itachi didn’t have it. If he didn’t, he never would have garnered Shimura’s attention and Shisui wouldn’t be sitting here with this nuclear weight on his chest, ready and waiting to drop it on this unsuspecting child he’d always seen as the closest thing he’d ever have to a sibling. He knows… he knows the kind of impact it’ll have. This thing… it has the potential to vaporize everything either of them have ever known.

It’s terrifying. Shisui’s throat constricts against his will and he hurries to swallow the lump, though he knows his cousin doesn’t miss it. How could he? His gaze is still burning holes in Shisui’s cheek.

“You did… really well at the sports festival,” Shisui says for way of introduction, unsure of how else to even bring it up. He’s also still hoping he’ll be able to find an out somewhere.

He can’t do this. He… just can’t.

Itachi leans forward, so he has a better line of sight to Shisui’s face. Shisui tries to keep it schooled into neutrality. “Is that… bad?”

“No!” Shisui sits up a little, in a hurry. That’s the last thing he wants Itachi to think, that he did something  _bad_  when he managed to make it to the third round. “No, it’s really great. You fought smart and stayed cool, even though you were facing kids so much older than you. You’re the youngest student at U.A. in four generations  _and_  the youngest to ever get so far in the festival. That’s… no, it’s not bad.”

Itachi frowns up at him. “Then what’s wrong?”

It’s still not working… he needs to shrug the kid’s suspicion off. Shimura can go feast on his own red tape, he decides. Shisui refuses to have this on his head, on his hands, on his conscience. No, he can’t look into this little face and say the words currently weighing down the underside of his tongue. Shimura’s words. His orders.

Shisui will risk breaking protocol. He won’t risk Itachi.

Which means he has to think of something fast. To buy time, he hums and clasps his hands behind his head. “Hmmm… I’ll tell you but you’re not gonna like it.”

That little frown only intensifies. “Please tell me?”

 _Ah, the please…_  Shisui can’t help the smile that quirks his mouth up on one side, and he chuckles, reaching out to ruffle Itachi’s hair. This elicits an outburst of objection that’s somewhere between a yelp and a squeak. Itachi swats his hand away, which does little to actually remove it. Shisui does remove it though, if only because he’s not in the mood to antagonize his cousin right now. Not with everything else that’s weighing on his mind and making him feel like taking an age-long nap.

If only escape was so easy.

Shisui huffs, like he’s hesitant to disclose whatever this fake news is. His mind races over potential excuses, stories he could weave that could explain his aura of melancholy as well as his casual avoidance. What could he use…

“Okay, if you say so…” He purses his lips, watching the fan blades go round like his train of thought. Then, like the switch of a lamp—there it is. He’s got it.

“Izumi has a crush on you.”

Instantaneously, a scarlet blush darkens Itachi’s cheeks and he lurches away like just the sight of Shisui throws waves of embarrassment on him like cold—or hot?— water. He averts his eyes to the foot of the bed, down and away from their place, and one of the furthest points from Shisui’s focus on the fan.

“N-No she doesn’t… You shouldn’t say things like that.” His voice is smaller now. Less sure. If Shisui wasn’t so lost to relief, he might have been amused.

As it is, he can only be grateful. This is the perfect distraction. The one area in which the prodigious Uchiha flounders. Shisui smirks a little. “You didn’t hear what I did in the grand stands. She and some friends of hers were sitting three rows behind us.”

“We’re just friends, Shisui…”

“She says you’re amazing and talented and smart. And pretty.”

“ _Shhhh_ …”

Crisis averted. Itachi… isn’t safe, but at the very least, he will not receive his d***ing assignment from Shisui. Shimura Danzo can do his own dirty work. Shisui refuses to sacrifice any more souls, his own or otherwise…

No matter how old and weary his is.


End file.
